The Diary

Cod Almighty | Diary

John Fenty could learn something from a walk through the Fitties

24 August 2017

When someone advised major shareholder... no, actually, let's not go along with that pretence any longer. It is absolutely clear who calls the shots in the Grimsby Town boardroom and he should have the guts to call himself what he is.

When someone advised chairman John Fenty that he needed to go on a charm offensive this season, the conversation obviously took place on a crackly line. His latest offence is to tie in the sales of tickets to the Mansfield game on 9 September with attendance at the Football League Trophy game against Doncaster on 29 August. Middle-Aged Diary will remind you that the Trophy is sponsored by Checkatrade, just so you know what company not to use when you are trying to find a plumber.

Just in case you thought we were being paranoid when we suggested Fenty might be behind the obstacles that have been put in the way of the #BTeamBoycott match (that's a Telegraph link, but it's worth resisting the barrage of pop-ups – it's a good write-up), the club has decided to prove that it is out to get us. Iain Biglin, one of the boycott match organisers, has heard from Fenty:


Fenty's real problem isn't that fans don't listen. His problem is that we don't feel obliged to instantly accept his pronouncements as though they were cast in stone. The club has many problems, of course. But in a week when the assertive response of the Mariners Trust to the Stevenage game has succeeded in generating a national debate about football stewarding, its fans are definitely not one of them.  

The boycott match was originally about the principle of not having B teams in competitive fixtures. Now Fenty is making it about him. I had been planning to support the Internet Mariners from afar, but Fenty is making me increasingly determined to make up the numbers in person. It's a long shot, but if you are planning to go to the boycott match from Manchester and get back the same night, and want someone to share the cost of the petrol, get in touch.

Let's not let Fenty take over the whole diary though. The defeat against Derby was my first sight of Town this season and left me generally heartened. Our attacking efforts were disjointed but we have players capable of creating chances once they have played together a few more times. The lack of pace in defence would be more of a worry if we came up against second-flight attacks every week.

And the match was set among the intrinsic pleasures of being in Cleethorpes – fish and chips with friends, a long walk with the broad estuary to my left and the charm of the Fitties to the right. I'd not seen them before, or not for a long time. Each chalet has its own character and yet each is also in keeping with the whole. It is a small working model of what a community, and its football club, should be.